Paleolithic Diet Study on Overweight Women Shown to Improved Health

(Originally Posted January 18, 2018) A study done by researcher and doctoral student, Caroline Blomquist, at Umeå Universitet, Sweden, revealed that overweight postmenopausal women who lost weight on the Paleolithic diet maintained their weight loss after two years. In addition, several health biomarkers showed improvement, including blood-fat levels as well as those risk factors associated with type 2 diabetes. Postmenopausal women have lower levels of estrogen and often end up consuming more calories, because physical activity is generally reduced. As such, these women become predisposed to a higher risk of obesity.

Overweight postmenopausal women who qualified for the study had a minimum Body Mass Index (BMI) of 27 percent. Participants, numbering 70, were split into two groups – one group followed the Paleolithic Diet, while the other group followed Nordic nutrition recommendations. The Paleolithic Diet consisted of vegetables, fish, lean meat, poultry, eggs, shellfish, seeds, nuts, oils and fruit; and excluded cereals, milk, refined sugars and added salt. The Paleolithic diet is also high in protein and unsaturated fats and has a low glycemic index.

The Paleolithic diet group lost 87-78 kilos, while the group following Nordic nutrition recommendations lost 86-80 kilos. Although both groups in the study successfully lost weight, had reduced inflammation in fat tissue and circulation, the Paleolithic group made major strides in improving health biomarkers. These biomarkers include the loss of a significant amount of unhealthy abdominal fat as well as the reduction in certain fatty acids and the levels of fat in the blood – all factors important in the prevention of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.